{"id":58,"date":"2019-05-26T18:36:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T16:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/neu.gernot-menke.de\/?page_id=58"},"modified":"2025-09-03T10:19:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T08:19:20","slug":"die-anfaenge-in-deutschland","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gernot-menke.de\/en\/die-anfaenge-in-deutschland\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginnings in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pattern that bicycle trials, modeled on motorcycle trials, emerged where motorcycle trials were new also applied to Germany. Enthusiasm for the new sport spread among trial clubs and trial events to children and young people, who, unable to ride motorcycles, simply did what they had seen on bicycles. Motorcycle trials were new in Germany around 1960 \u2013 that was the year the German Trials Championship was introduced. The same was true in the 1970s, when trials experienced a tremendous upswing and rapid expansion, leading to its rediscovery in many places. The cases of early bicycle trials in Germany up to 1974 (Ebstorf, Kiefersfelden, Moosen, Schatthausen, R\u00f6hrnbach) that are known to date and can be read about on this page date from this period. Almost always, the best and most motivated of the early bicycle trialists switched to motorcycle trials as soon as the opportunity arose. As a result, the early bicycle trial activities soon came to an end and fell into oblivion.<\/p>\n

\"Kirchner<\/a>
The Kirchner Hut in Bad Nauheim, meeting point for the first bicycle trial on May 25, 1974. From this perspective, the trial was exactly two hundred meters behind.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was different in Bad Nauheim. The bicycle trial, which I organized for the first time on May 25, 1974, as a 15-year-old (Gernot Menke, born August 19, 1958) (see \u201cBad Nauheim (1974-1988)\u201d), was not forgotten due to the circumstances described below, but became the starting point for the current development of bicycle trials in Germany. The German development, in turn, had an important influence on Catalonia\/Spain, where bicycle trials had also emerged at almost the same time, and also on the development of bicycle trials worldwide \u2013 see the three chapters \u201cFelix Krahnst\u00f6ver and Pere Pi,\u201d \u201cThe news from the German bicycle trial,\u201d and \u201cPere Pi makes bicycle trials HIS business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bike trial in Bad Nauheim was unusual in that there was nothing in Bad Nauheim that had anything to do with trials. The trial was inspired by a book: \u201cSport mit Motorr\u00e4dern\u201d (Sport with Motorcycles) by Crius, alias Christian Christophe. Canadian Desmond Lee already reported on this in his video \u201cLeaps&Bounds \u2013 The Story of BikeTrial\u201d (2006). I was convinced that trials with bicycles was possible and sensible, and assumed that bicycle trials had been unjustly \u201coverlooked\u201d because cycling was unfamiliar with trials and motorcycle trials clubs had no interest in bicycles. It annoyed me that there were skill competitions such as the ADAC's \u201cMaster on Two Wheels,\u201d but not the much more interesting bicycle trials. That's why I organized my first bicycle trial in Bad Nauheim on May 25, 1974, as a deliberate demonstration of bicycle trials. Accordingly, I reported on it from the very beginning and promoted bicycle trials, first in the former DTSG (German Trialsport Association) newsletter FAHRERLAGER, and later in the magazine TRIALSPORT, which was founded in 1976 by German motorcycle trials champion Felix Krahnst\u00f6ver (and still exists today).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As is often the case in life, however, it was personal encounters that had the greatest influence on the further development of bicycle trials. On August 21, 1976, I happened to meet G\u00fcnter Schlieper (1935-2016) at a German Motorcycle Trials Championship round in Bad Sooden-Allendorf. He was introduced to me as the chairman of the German Trialsport Community (DTSG) and was also the chairman of the \u201cWeser-Solling\u201d motorsports club in F\u00fcrstenhagen. So, at the edge of a section, I told him that my sixth bicycle trial in Bad Nauheim two weeks earlier had once again been a complete success and that more than fifty participants had taken part in a previous trial. He listened to me in silence, and I could see that he was surprised and impressed. A few weeks later, I read in TRIALSPORT that the MSC Weser-Solling in F\u00fcrstenhagen wanted to hold a cup competition for bicycles the following year. That was the beginning of the \u201cVelo-Trial Cup\u201d (VTP) in F\u00fcrstenhagen in 1977.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Announcement of the Velo-Trials Cup for 1977 in TRIALSPORT 10\/December 1976, p. 22.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the Velo Trial Cup, which was a regional competition in the F\u00fcrstenhagen area in its first two years, personal contacts once again proved to be significant. G\u00fcnter Schlieper was well acquainted with Felix Krahnst\u00f6ver, who often came to F\u00fcrstenhagen, where rounds for the North German Trial Cup (NTP) or the German Trial Championship were regularly held. In addition, as German champion, Krahnst\u00f6ver always held the trial training course of the German Trial Sports Community (DTSG) on the F\u00fcrstenhagen grounds at the end of the season. G\u00fcnter Schlieper took advantage of Felix Krahnst\u00f6ver's presence at the DTSG training course and held the final award ceremony for the Velo Trial Cup at the same time, so that the children and young people could receive their trophies from the German champion himself. In the fall of 1978, Felix Krahnst\u00f6ver was shown a short demonstration film about bicycle trials, which the F\u00fcrstenhageners had made in order to promote bicycle trials to other clubs. He also saw a trial demonstration by the F\u00fcrstenhagen boys with their bicycles on the grounds. Felix Krahnst\u00f6ver, who, like many others, had paid little attention to bicycle trials until then, was surprised and enthusiastic and wrote an enthusiastic editorial about bicycle trials in the December issue of TRIALSPORT.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Editorial in TRIALSPORT 34 (Dec. 1978)<\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Das Muster, da\u00df das Fahrrad-Trial nach dem Vorbild des Motorrad-Trials dort entstand, wo der Motorrad-Trialsport neu war, galt auch f\u00fcr Deutschland. Die Begeisterung f\u00fcr das Neue sprang im Umfeld von Trialklubs und Trialveranstaltungen auch auf Kinder und Jugendliche \u00fcber, die das Gesehene mangels der M\u00f6glichkeit, schon Motorrad fahren zu k\u00f6nnen, eben mit dem Fahrrad umsetzten….<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-58","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gernot-menke.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gernot-menke.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gernot-menke.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gernot-menke.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gernot-menke.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.gernot-menke.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3022,"href":"https:\/\/www.gernot-menke.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58\/revisions\/3022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gernot-menke.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}